Carlos Sainz: "We want to improve a lot for tomorrow, but I've got a good feeling"

Carlos Sainz: "We want to improve a lot for tomorrow, but I've got a good feeling"

He practiced the long runs on the soft and the supersoft compounds

Hockenheim, July 29th 2016.- Carlos Sainz finished eleventh in the second free practice session for the German Grand Prix, with 32 laps to his name. The driver from Scuderia Toro Rosso tested his STR11 in different fuel loads and worked towards finding the optimum set-up for tomorrow's Qualifying session.

Temperatures stood warm throughout the afternoon practice, with 25ºC in the air and track at 38ºC. The biggest change in comparison to this morning was the wind, which was stronger. Drivers had tailwind as they passed through the penultimate turn.

Carlos started his programme on soft tyres, on which he did nine laps. He later went for a set of supersofts and he clocked his fastest lap of the day. On that very same compound, he did another nine laps replicating race conditions. He concluded the day with a run on used-softs, on which he did the last nine laps of the day to make the most out of these tyres.

After stepping out of the car, Carlos was cautious but optimistic.

"It was a normal Friday, although it was the first time that I drove a F1 car around this track. Our focus was on getting to know the tyres, on working with the new aerodynamic package -it all went as expected- and build on from there. We didn't focus too much on our fast-lap performance but more on our pace in race conditions. Plus, the characteristics of the track were a little bit complicated, especially when the wind picked-up in FP2 and the asphalt lost a little bit of grip".

"It was not a bad start to the weekend, but we will work to find more pace for our fast laps. Tomorrow we will fight for Q3, that's for sure, but our rivals didn't show their cards today so we will have to give our very best. I have a good feeling and I look forward to the rest of the weekend".

Tomorrow action will resume at 11:00 Spanish time with the third and final free practice session. We will follow it live via www.carlosainz.es and our Twitter account @carlosainzinfo.